Bank of America (BAC)

Bought a few years ago. His target price is about double where it is now. He is glad the dividend is up. If it goes up further, the stock price should go up further. As the economy does well, banks should do well.

Took a $400 Million write-down due to legal charges. It is not such a terrible thing. They are one turn of a multiple less than the peer group. There are a number of tail winds lining up. Increase in rates, increased loan growth and an economic recovery lead by the US. He sticks to Canadian names, however.

They have to go to the federal reserve to ask if they can bump the dividend. They have to worry about capital ratios. They have to go through stress tests. They are selling assets and becoming a smaller, more profitable bank. They are primed for dividend increases now.

Has always maintained that no bull market persists without the leadership or participation of financials. The trend is up and this probably works higher.

Has been a big bull on this. Feels this is one of the cheapest areas in the whole US stock market. This bank has a lot of positive things. They have a great business on the investment banking side, which will continue to do well, a great wealth management business and a great retail banking business. A lot of the issues that were facing them from a regulatory and legal point of view are all off the table now. BV is $21 and it is trading well below this.

Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS-T) or Bank of America (BAC-N)? By owning a Canadian bank you can take advantage of the Canadian dividend tax credit, which basically means a lot. Secondly, if you are going to buy something in the US, you are paying up for it, and that implies a potential exchange risk down the way.

Thinks you are past the worse with this one. With the $70 billion settlement they have had now, they have taken the hit on the Countrywide Financial. Feels the US bank valuations are still relatively attractive. There is a lot of earnings leverage, and he expects another move out of the housing sector.

Pretty good earnings and strong quarter. Prefers JPM-N and GS-N in preference to this one as there are skeletons in this closet.

He likes the US financials in general and he likes this bank. Has been focusing more closely on some of the US regional banks such as Wells Fargo (WFC-N). He doesn’t know if he has a favourite, but you might want to start watching out for some of the multinational names because of the US$ advancing so much.

This is probably a play on the US economy. Thinks there are better large-cap names to own. They have somewhat recovered from the financial mess of 2008-2009. Dividend yield is quite low at just over 1%. There are other banks with better quality and better credit culture that will give you a better dividend yield.

One of the better positioned banks. Has more of a retail focus which is really the conservative way to play the banking sector. If interest rates go up, the banks that are focused on retail should do better than others. A few months ago, they were capital constrained and restrained on what they could do in turning money over to shareholders. They have just recently been able to provide that. Doesn’t think there will be huge dividend increases out of the stock, but it is encouraging that they have actually started.

Thinks we are closer to the fed getting back into a rising rate environment and this will be very constructive for the banks. This is an indicator that the economy is strong and so loan growth should improve at some point and banks will get out of the penalty box with the government. He has not made a move yet, but has talked about it for while.

He is much more positive on US banks than Canadian. It is a fine bank, but has a securities division and he is not big on those. The SEC is looking into a possible misstatement of the amount of capital that they have.

Owned for a long time. He is a big fan. It is not expensive, trading below book value. The litigation issues are out of the way so you can judge them by their earnings. One of the largest retail banks, brokerages businesses and institutional brokerages in the US. They really cut back on non-core assets.

When the Fed taper comes off and the lawsuits stop, this has the ability to make a lot of money. Targets on the street are quite a bit higher than its current price. Yield of 1.17%.